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g o d s - o f - i n d i a ++ GANESHAGANESHA'S BIRTHDAY ---- One of the Grandest Festivals in India.
IT MAY SEEM STRANGE FOR THOSE WHO WORSHIP OTHER RELIGIONS, BUT MANY OF THE HINDU GODS HAVE BIRTHDAYS AND THESE BIRTHDAYS ARE CELEBRATED WITH GREAT POMP AND FLAIR BY THEIR DEVOTEES. Ganehsa's birthday is known as Ganesh Chaturthi or Ganesh Utsav, and is celebrated over an 11-day period in August or September. As with many religious festivals, this one is centered around the moon... the waxing moon. (It is interesting to note that Ganesha and the moon have a troubled history... read Moon Cursed for more details about this. Devotees are forbidden to look at the moon during Chaturthi, and will receive a curse if they happen to do so. As they say, an elephant never forgets a wrong!) Basically, Chaturthi starts on the 4th day of the Hindu month of Bhadarva Shukla-Paksh (known as Aavani in Tamil Nadu), which is sometime in August or September in the western solar calendar. Though celebrated all over India, Ganesh Chaturthi reaches its grandest heights in the state of Maharashtra, where it is the principle holiday of the year. Just like Christmas in the west, except noisier (and with traffic snarls). On the day of the Chaturthi, i.e. the last day dedicated to the elephant-headed god, shrines are erected, firecrackers let off, and huge images of Ganesha are carried in grand procession for Ganesh Visarjan (immersion into the sea) accompanied by the sound of devotional songs and dhols (Indian drums).
One can barely imagine the majesty of the moment as those colossal Ganesha statues are heaved out from the palm-lined beaches (Juhu Beach perhaps?) into the roaring surf of the Arabian Sea. It must be one joyous time to be alive, to be able to partake in these festivities. If only I had the chance to attend myself! I will be there one day.

GANESHA THE UNIFIER ---- And Reconciler.WHILE DOUBTLESS AN ANCIENT RITUAL, GANESH CHATURTHI WAS REPORTEDLY PROMOTED IN THE 19TH CENTURY AS A MEANS OF UNIFYING INDIA. Ganesha's birthday has since become an occasion for celebration for Brahmins and non-Brahmins, rich and poor. Even the Bollywood movie stars pay homage these days.

By some kind of divine coincidence, September 11 2010 marked not only the start of Ganesh Chaturthi but also the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan (a feast called Eid Mubarak), and the dawn of the Jewish New Year. This added significance to a date usually associated with the terrorist attacks against New York City.
"God must be an Indian," a certain biswas66 on Twitter proclaimed regarding the cosmic alignment. "As the world mourns 9/11, he had other plan for India. Eid & Ganesh Chaturthi." With all this synchronicity, the Eid/Ganesh Chaturthi double-bill was bound to become one of the top trending topics on Twitter, alongside the September 11 eulogies, and threats by American pastor Terry Jones to burn copies of the Quran with his congregation down in Florida. Thankfully the Qurans were not burned, September 11 2010 passed without any terrorist outrages, and many Indians rejoiced in the opportunity to bridge some communal chasms. Especially in cities like Mumbai, the heartland of Ganesh Chaturthi territory, which in recent years have suffered the brunt of Hindu/Islamic tension.
You only had to check out some of the tweets on Twitter to see the intercommunal goodwill which was in the air that day. Maithili Desai said: "Amar Akhbar Anthony day in #Mumbai; Ganesh Chaturthi, Eid, n Mount Mary's Fair....If the God's can come together, why can't we? Wishes 2 all." Yusra Askari said: "Eid,Rosh Hashanah &Ganesh Chaturthi all falling on the same weekend=God's way of reminding man of the need to live & celebrate life together." Dhruvi Shah, in Mumbai, tweeted: "Michchami Dukdam, Happy Ganesh Chaturthi, Eid Mubarak & Mount Mary's feast. These are the times I love my country." And Mahesh Gopinath remarked: "I may be an atheist but i love being part of festivities. Ganesh Chaturti is one such. Love the cute looking Ganeshas."
PANDAALS ---- Ganesha on Display.DURING CHATURTHI CANOPIED TENTS KNOWN AS PANDAALS (OR PANDALS, OR MANDALS) SPRING UP IN PUBLIC SPACES TO SHOW OFF THE DEITY TO THE MASSES. These huge pandaals can be found on roadsides and at the end of streets all over the city during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. In the city of Mumbai in 2009 there were 8000 registered pandaals/mandals, according to Ganesh Mall Blog. In Maharashtra as a whole, some 5 million Ganesha idols are made every year. Every day of the festival, devotees visit their neighbourhood pandaal to chant aarti (prayers) to the deity. At the end of the festival, the deity is removed from the pandaal and carried in a hectic procession to be dunked into a body of water (river, ocean, whatever). Such religious rituals are presided over by a scholar known as a pandit. If you are in India at the time it is well worth checking out all the various pandaals, they are all different and artistic in their own way. If you are a local, on the other hand, you could possibly tire of the ear-splitting music, crowded streets and traffic disruptions which pandaals often create. To be fair, the authorities are trying to force pandaal organisers to tone down the noise. Try as they might, however, there will always be an element of anarchy in Chaturthi!

If you are an organiser and you manage to win approval there is now a website now where you can pimp your pandal, have it rated, and compare it with others all over India. Maybe 'pimp' is not the right word, I should have wrote 'promote'. You got to promote your pandals, it is kind of like a competition to see who has the most beautiful or stunning or colourful design. The Ganesha pictured below comes from Malakpet, Hyderabad.

This might be dated by the time you see it, but here is an online poll for the best Ganesha idol of 2010:

VISARJAN ---- Immersion of the Deity.VISARJAN, OR THE IMMERSION OF A GANESHA IDOL INTO WATER, REPRESENTS THE CLIMAX OF GANESHA CHATURTHI.
"Ganesh immersion, also known as Ganesh Jala nimajjan, is the most beautiful event of this festival," writes Hindupad. "About the immersion reasons and factors, it is the perplexing question to answer. There are some reasons related to both the Sanatan Hindu dharma and the environment. As per many Hindu scriptures, the clay idols of any God (we usually see the idols of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Durga) should be immersed after performing puja and worshipping for certain period. But nowadays the idols of Plaster of Paris are also immersed in water. We should immerse only the clay idols in water and not the idols made of other hazardous material like POP and other harmful chemicals..."
Immersing the deity might be a good way to cleanse it from contamination with humans, but in recent years an environmental awareness has developed around the custom. "For centuries the idols were made out of mud or soil, which easily biodegraded in the water," reports Global Post. "However, in the past few decades, modern materials such as plaster of Paris as well as lead- and zinc-based paints have become popular. After the water immersion, the plaster idols do not biodegrade, and the chemicals pollute the water and disrupt the fish and plant life, say environmentalists. The health risks extend to humans, who eat the fish and drink the water."
Ganesh immersion or Ganapati Nimajjan, also known as Vianayaka Visarjan is the culmination day of 12-day Ganesh Chaturthi or Ganapati Navaratri celebrations. Usually, Ganesh immersion is held on Anant Chaturdashi day. Genrally Ganesh nimajjan is performed on the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th or the 10th day of Ganesh Navratri festival. As per tradition, Ganesh immersion is performed on Anant Chaturthi day, which is September 22 in 2010. Here is the list of Ganesh Visarjan 2010 dates
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Contact the author Rob Sullivan at coderot@gmail.com. Anticopyright September 2010.

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purushottam (purshu@gmail.com)
says: "What a comprehensive view of the gods of india..really enjoyed it. I thank u for the clarity this article has given me in my seeking.
"I used to be a die hard atheist since childhood-praying to Shiva, vishnu, krishna, ganesha, saraswati, hanuman etc. I beleived in ONE omnipotent,omniscient, omnipresent God.
"But my recent experience with a spiritual master and organization took me towards Advaita philosophy-which makes possible the existence of many gods and the god inherent in every one of us. With the possibility of man becoming GOD one day, it has obviated my belief in 'one GOD for all'.
"So my allegiance shifted from Dvaita(dualistic) to the Advaita(non dualistic) shcheme of things, where there is no radical difference between man and god as man is god's low frequency existence,capable of reaching godhood by various means(bhakti,gyan,karma,meditation,etc).
"All this was fine till i realized that this advaita concept of GOD is effectively atheism in the eyes of a monotheist.
"Nevermind, 'reailty is relative'-I said to myself and continued my journey inwards.("One should have the courage of following truth to wherever it takes")."
"WIth my beleif in God shaken, I decided to test my second most prized belief-the concept of Atman through the Advaitic Lens...."

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